150 cases are registered in the country. 70% are asymptomatic and registered the contagion after contact with a positive adult.
According to the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), in epidemiological week number 50 – dDecember 15-22, 2021– 5,813 new cases of Covid-19 were registered in Ecuador. This means an increase of 2,584 cases, compared to October.
The State portfolio detailed that since week 43 there has been a sustained growth of cases. This reality is similar in children, mainly between five and nine years old, with a increase in infections of twenty%, with respect to the last three months.
Contact with infected adults
Of the 5,813 new cases of Covid-19, 150 correspond to minors under 18 years of age. Of which, less than 5% required hospitalization.
Pediatrician Amelia Ortiz details that most children are asymptomatic. “It has been shown that the virus does not represent complications in most infants. But this does not mean no there are sequelae or that may develop symptoms stronger that could be deadly, such as the spediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome”.
And it is that, so far in the pandemic (March 2020), 152 children have died from Covid-19. Specialists from two children’s hospitals in Quito and Guayaquil highlight that the triages show that “the vast majority of children with Covid-19 have contracted the disease, after andl contact with a positive adult ”.
Return to class plan without changes
On November 30, 2021, the schedules for the progressive return to classrooms were postponed as a preventive measure for the new omicron variant, which, according to the Ministry of Health, It is already a community in Ecuador.
Educational establishments, both fiscal, fiscal, private and municipal that had already approved their Institutional Plans for Educational Continuity and whose students were already in face-to-face classes continue to attend. It is estimated that close to 2 million students already go to face-to-face classes, as of June 7, 2021. This represents half of the student population.
But the face-to-face classes, in their entirety, must be resumed on February 7, 2022 for the Sierra-Amazonía regime and on May 3, 2022 it will be for the Costa-Galapagos regime.
These measures, according to the Ministry of Education, have not changed. “So far for educational institutions we do not have any changes, we must wait for the start of classes and see what is resolved with the COE, depending on how the cases of covid continue,” said said State portfolio, through a media chat.
Schools, sites with less or no contagion
For Mario Domínguez, pediatrician, schools do not represent the main contagion space for children. “The figures are a clear indicator that it is adults who carry the virus. As the variants are faster agents of infection, it is obvious that the number of children is going to increase.It would be a shame if that is why they cannot go back to classes ”, he points out.
What’s more, neither the Ministry of Education, nor the Ministry of Health have reported outbreaks in educational institutions, therefore, experts consider that taking extreme measures outside of schools is the ideal: avoid taking children to supermarkets, parties, food courts. “Those are places where the little ones have nothing to do.”
Care should be taken to bring them to open spacesIf there are crowds, the ideal is to leave. Prioritize hand washing, before you leave and when you return home. (AVV)
Puedes vacunar a tu hijo contra la Covid-19, desde los cinco años de edad, en los centros de salud.
En los niños, los síntomas de Covid-19 son similares: tos, fiebre, fatiga. Pero también existe niebla mental (dificultad de concentración, de atención, de memoria).
El Ministerio de Salud no ha detallado que existan niños con la nueva variante ómicron, aunque ya es comunitaria.
Un estudio de Unicef, en 191 países, concluyó que, no existe una relación directa entre el cierre o la apertura de las escuelas y las tasas de contagio de Covid-19 en la comunidad.
